In this article, I will maintain that there might be a ‘Kirk’s Army’ becoming established in recent days.  Before I go into details, I will just recapture what I perceived as three main topics in the article by O’Neill and Dupéré: generations, gender, and hemispheres.  There is potential for conflicts within all of these three areas – generation versus generation, gender versus gender, and hemisphere versus hemisphere.  So, renewal of leadership within the field of health promotion needs to be sensitive to such issues: (1) letting new generations enter the arena while still valuing the previous generations; (2) accommodating for women’s participation in leadership on equal terms; and (3) being culturally sensitive in international leadership to ensure global representation and avoid northern dominance at the cost of other cultures.

Recruit, channel, and train

I suggest that in order for new generations to step into leadership, they first need to be recruited; they next need to be channelled into relevant positions; and during the whole process they need to be trained.  This last step might be a parallel to what O’Neill and Dupéré referred to as ‘mentoring’ in their article.  I am not thinking about mentoring on a one-to-one basis, but rather as a mentoring process at large, notably within the International Union of Health Promotion and Education (IUHPE). In the natural world, generations live together over decades, training each other - hopefully reciprocally.  In this way we ease transition of responsibility between generations.  So, I suggest the IUHPE needs forums where generations can work together.  But prior to training we need recruitment of new generations, and we need a system that allows for a channelling of new generations into relevant positions for training.

ISECN

It is time to return to the idea of an army like Kirk’s.  I am referring to the newly established ‘IUHPE Student and Early Career Network’ (ISECN – this abbreviation to be pronounced ‘I second’).  The network might be seen as a system to recruit and channel new generations into relevant positions where they might be trained by the IUHPE generations currently in leadership.  With this, we might leave the somewhat disturbing war-connotations of captains and armies behind.

What exactly is ISECN?  As I see it, ISECN is the result of an initiative by the former President of the IUHPE, Maurice B. Mittelmark.  He assigned Hope Corbin, research assistant of the IUHPE, to start the work of establishing a network for students and early career group within the IUHPE –a quickly growing membership sector.  Members of the IUHPE Board of Trustees were asked to suggest candidates for a working group. A working group was established in the fall of 2006 with representation from most regions of the IUHPE.  Thus, we are touching on the theme of hemispheres.  Come the above mentioned conference in Vancouver in June 2007, this working group arranged a symposium where young conference participants from all over the world took part in shaping the network.  Six young women, from the US, from Australia, from Germany and from Norway, had presentations at this symposium.  Thus, we are also touching on the theme of genders.  One might call this symposium the official ‘birth’ of ISECN.   On the following day, still at the World Conference in Vancouver, came the General Assembly of the IUHPE.  As those present may remember, ISECN forwarded two resolutions, both of which were upheld after some discussion.  These resolutions bring us to the theme of generations:  The first resolution asked for representation of students and early career people on the Board of Trustees. The second asked for the group to be represented at the regional level.  The resolutions asked for both these issues to be considered before the Hong Kong conference in 2010, and that an update be given to ISECN in one year. How does such representation relate to generations?  To put it briefly, they would provide important forums for cooperation between generations of leadership.

The discussion at the General Assembly of the IUHPE in Vancouver showed some resistance toward representing certain groups of members on the Board on the criteria of group membership alone.  Various groups could claim the entitlement to such representation.  Other voices supported representation of younger generations, but only through regular voting processes.  True enough, ISECN represents a large membership section and should have no problem collecting enough votes to ensure representation on the Board.  Still, it could be argued that young members should be free to use their vote to support board members on other criteria than age alone.  Also, it could be argued that ‘trans-generational’ representation is of such value to the IUHPE in general that the new generations should be willingly included as a resource to the organisation.  This would be one of the areas where intergenerational learning could be provided, resulting in an easy transition of responsibility between generations.

After Vancouver

What did ISECN come away with after Vancouver? We came away with a network established, up and going.  The network has members all over the globe, and regional representatives from all regions except Latin America.  We have an active mailing list, and a ‘blog’ for communication.  Vancouver also brought a working group for mapping good tools for communication within the network.  A main issue discussed at the Vancouver symposium was the need for ISECN to provide fair access to the network – we need to work on ways to include members who for various reasons have poor access to electronic equipment.  Also, it was strongly felt that ISECN should unite researchers and practitioners. As mentioned above, we are waiting for the Board of Trustees to take our resolutions forward.

What does ISECN wish to accomplish?

ISECN intends to serve the IUHPE as a whole, and the student and early career membership section in particular.  ISECN, as a part of the IUHPE, supports the same mission, goals and objectives as the organisation at large.  At the symposium in Vancouver the following draft of special goals and objectives for ISECN was presented.  The draft will be circulated for discussion and comments within ISECN before a final signing-off at a later date.

Goals:
1. To encourage student/early career participation in the larger IUHPE network;
2. To create resources, programs and projects that meet the needs of student and early career members;
3. To enrich the strength of the IUHPE by contributing the unique perspectives, experience and energy of students and early career people to current projects, programmes, publications and conferences;
4. To become active in shaping the IUHPE of the future according to the needs and interests of students and early career people.

Objectives:
ISECN will pursue these goals by:
1. Creating forums and mechanisms for students and early career people to exchange ideas regarding their needs, interests and possible opportunities;
2. Mobilizing the student and early career membership within the organisation to ensure they are appropriately represented in the general organisation;
3. Undertaking activities that are in line with the overall mission of the IUHPE that the group feels are being neglected or would like to initiate;
4. Providing links for one another within the global network which can facilitate our learning and professional growth;
5. Strengthening the capacity of the organisation to fulfil its mission into the future.

Going beyond the ‘guru-factor’

Some regional representatives have already started the work of promoting ISECN within relevant groups in their respective regions, as for instance at universities and at local conferences.  This gives the IUHPE a stronger basis of recruitment to the organisation.  It also provides an accessible entrance to the IUHPE for younger people, making active participation easier.   When I was a student, I found the IUHPE to be a relatively closed organisation, with a lot of distance to the leadership.  In looking back, I believe this was partly caused by the high ‘guru-factor’ of the organisation:  Members of the leadership seemed to be the same as those who had written all the famous books I was recommended as a student…  Whatever could I contribute?  I suspect several young people have this same experience. ISECN is meant to be a door-opener, easing the entrance of the new generations into the IUHPE.  Once they are inside, what happens?

This article opened with the first part of a sentence from the article by O’Neill and Dupéré (2005).  I will close the article by citing the full sentence:  ‘Who will be the Captain Kirks of tomorrow’s health promotion field and what is the current generation in power doing to nurture their emergence and their access to decision-making positions?’

O'Neill, Michel and Sophie Dupéré (2005).  Health promotion: the next generations.  Reviews of Health Promotion and Education Online. Online, URL:reviews/2005/10/index.htm